Titles and Headings
I’d be interested in getting people’s input on how they title books, and what they think of doing something different with chapter headings other than just _Chapter One, Chapter Two, etc._ Thanks to Vic Milan book two in the Edge series has a new, and great title. THE EDGE OF RUIN. Vic also titled the first book, THE EDGE OF REASON. I confess that titles are the ban of my existence. I pour over Bartlett’s, I try different word combinations, and my titles (for the most part) suck. What tricks or techniques do other folks use? I’m really interested because I’d like to get better at this skill.
Next point. Music is a vital component in my books. It represents one of the underpinnings of the rational world, and my protagonist is an accomplished pianist and singer. I’m doing something different in book two. My experience writing in first person was so rewarding in the second Wild Card book that I wanted to try it in my Edge novel. I had a number of view point characters, and I think it would have been hard to keep distinct voices for the four view point characters if all of the them were in first person, so I decided to put my hero’s section in first, and the others in third. I’m also using the first chapter/prologue as a means to direct the reader’s attention toward my protagonist by presenting a number of people all of whom are thinking about or trying to reach my hero.
As I was reading through some of my musical texts I came across a couple of definitions that seemed really right on point about what I was trying to do with the book. In essence I was thinking of this book as if it were a concerto grosso. The movements of a concerto weren’t exactly right, but it seemed that hero’s sections were a ritornello, a short reoccuring passage that unifies a piece. The other voices are just that, voices commenting and orbiting the main theme/character. In a way they are a fugue, and there are nice psychological resonances to that word — fugue.
I know a lot of readers hate it when they open a book, and they first thing they hit is a prologue so I wanted to avoid that title. I also didn’t want to call it chapter one because I pull in a number of POV’s in that first section, and most of them will never be a point of view again. This is a statement or an exposition if this were a composition. So what do people think? Is it just to precious and artsy to use unusual headings? Or does it matter? Do people even notice chapter headings or just read right over them?
Melinda
December 6th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Titles just sorta come to me, usually. I find them easy.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:01 am
I always have liked unusual headings. I know when I was younger and reading a lot of genre fiction and a lot of comic books, the books that did something unusual with the chapter headings really stood out in my mind. The chapter titles of “V for Vendetta” are probably the ultimate example — dozens of chapters, each one starting with the letter “V.”
I recall Peter David doing some weird stuff in some of his Star Trek: Next Generation novels. In “Q-Squared,” he did a story that cut between three different parallel realities, so every time he switched, the heading would be “Track A,” “Track B,” “Track C”. And then the final section of the book — in which people started jumping from one parallel timeline to another — was titled “Derailment.” I think Peter David also did something unusual when he wrote his Borg book (also called “Vendetta,” strangely enough).
And when Chris Claremont titled his chapters of the “Inferno” crossover in the X-Men comic, each one was titled Shakespearean style: “Inferno, Part the First,” “Part the Second,” etc. That made me sit up and take notice, definitely. It gave the whole story a sense of grandeur. (”Inferno: Part the First,” incidentally, has a scene in which four scientists named Dr. Milan, Dr. Martin, Dr. Shiner and Dr. Snodgrass become trapped in a demonic elevator. Where DID Claremont come up with those names, I wonder … ?)
So, I like ‘em, I guess is what I’m saying. Hey, could the first part of your book be called “Prelude” or “Overture”? (Thinking about it now, Peter David’s “Vendetta” might’ve used musical terms like this. Been a long time since I read it, but — pardon the pun — the idea is striking a chord in my memory.)
December 7th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Thanks, Jason, Prelude is a great suggestion. I could then use fugue for the other chapters where it all the people introduced in the prelude cross and weave among each other.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
My editor came up with the title for the first book, Reiffen’s Choice. It was left for me to hit myself in the forehead and say, “Well, duh.” My title, The Stoneways, got shifted to the title for the entire series.
But I’ve found I’m getting better at it. My pick, Queen Ferris, worked for the second book. I think the reason I’m getting better is because I decided to name my chapters. With 50+ under my belt, titles come a lot more easily now.
The decision to name the chapters was made because I remember, when I was a kid, how much I loved reading the chapter titles before I started a book, and how much I’d look forward to reading a chapter that sounded really cool. One more way to try and pull a prospective reader in.
December 10th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Okay, so how do you title a chapter? Do you pull out what the chapter is about, or the emotion the events will arouse in the character you’re featuring? That was actually something I considered for book 2. Instead I’m fiddling around with this musical theme, and I’m not real sure it’s working Thanks to Jason the opening section is going to be called Prelude. Richard’s first person sections are presently called ritornellos, but I haven’t figured out what to call the third person chapters that are from the POV of the other three view point characters. Variation? Fugue?
The good news is that I’m not spending too much time on this. Mostly I’m just rewriting.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I title the chapters mostly based on what the chapter is about. There’s still a lot of room for variation. Titles can be misleading, to the point, bad jokes, whatever. I think what I look for most of all is to try and say something that might hook a reader picking up the book in a store and thumbing through the pages.
December 12th, 2007 at 10:37 am
I have enough problems to come up with decent titles for my books. The Flying Spaghetti Monsters beware me to start titling my chapters.
What I do sometimes give is an orientation:
Chapter 1
(Moguntiacum, August 82 AD)